Elle Magazine: Apologize for Trying to 'Whiten' Indian Skin

Bollywood actor and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is featured on the cover of Elle Magazine looking far paler than she is in real life. Most fans are up in arms and an appalled Ms. Bachchan is considering a lawsuit against the magazine.

Consumers have long been inundated with ads that use prominent Bollywood actors to promote skin-lightening products. In a country that produces gorgeous women of color, it is sad that Ms. Rai-Bachchan, who is relatively light-skinned, is one of the very few with some cross-over appeal.

To see magazines like Elle further enforce the color hierarchy of crossover appeal by making Aishwarya appear lighter-skinned is a slap in the face.

This is the second racial debacle surrounding Elle. The American version was criticized for its October 2010 issue, which featured actress Gabourey Sidibeon on one of its four celebrity covers with noticeably lighter skin than her natural complexion.

Lets tell Elle Magazine to make a commitment to moving away from using white as a standard for beauty, and demand a public statement and apology.

I write along to you, the publishers of Elle India, with thousands of other readers to express my concern as an Elle reader over the depiction of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, one of the most beautiful women in the world, as more light-skinned than she is in real life.

Consumers have long been inundated with ads that use prominent Bollywood actors to promote skin-lightening products. In a country that produces gorgeous women of color, it is sad that Ms. Rai-Bachchan, who is relatively light-skinned, is one of the very few with some cross-over appeal. To see magazines like Elle further enforce the color hierarchy of crossover appeal by making Aishwarya appear lighter-skinned is a slap in the face.

Ms. Rai-Bachchan is the epitome of perfection and she certainly deserves to be on the cover of Elle Magazine without lightening tricks. I sincerely hope Elle can commit to making sure that it moves away from the color white as a standard for beauty.

Most importantly, I ask that Elle issue a public apology to Ms. Rai-Bachchan and all her fans.